Emilio Freixas

(1899 - 1976, Spain)

Una Estranha Aventura (Portuguese edition of El Capitàn Misterio)

Emilio Freixas was a pioneer in Spanish comics, and generally considered one of the country's best artists of the 20th century. He was an apprentice of the painter Emilio Casals and began his career as a set designer for plays by Bulbena and Girbal. He published his first illustrations in Spanish magazines like El Hogar, La Moda and Lecturas in the mid-1920s. His first comics appeared in Editorial Molino's Mickey magazine in the mid 1930s. From 1935, Freixas adapted several classic literary works to comics, including Jonathan Swifts's 'Gulliver's Travels', Jules Verne's 'Two Years' Vacation' and Rafeal Sabatini's 'The Sea Hawk'.

He was present in Pocholo magazine and began a collaboration with Chicos in 1939, for which he created comics like 'La Giudad de las Tres Muralles', 'La Gran Hazaña de Primo Villa', 'El Secreto de la Giua Telefónica' and 'Sadhu'.

El Misterio del Murciélago Humano (Chicos, 1945)

He teamed up with writer Angel Puigmiquel and his son Carlos to launch the publishing project Colección Mosquito in 1944. Freixas and Puigmiquel created their best known comic for this firm in that same year, the Flash Gordon-inspired 'El Capitàn Misterio'. This adventure series was continued in magazines published by Consuelo Gil, such as El Gran Chicos and Chicos until 1949. Freixas has additionally cooperated with J. Canellas Casals on several stories for Chicos in the second half of the 1940s, including 'El Murciélago Humano'and 'Sir Black'.

Emilio Freixas stopped making comics in the 1950s, and continued to work as an illustrator in collaboration with is son. Freixas has won several awards during his career, including one from the National Cartoonists Society in New York in 1947. He briefly returned to comics in Chito magazine in 1974 with 'El Monstruo Extraterrestre' and a reprise of 'Sadhu'. Emilio Freixas is also remembered for his drawings courses in magazines and books that are still sold today.